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TWITTER UPDATE

January 02, 2018

Audio: Baxter in the mix makes WV-1 House race more interesting

The race for congress in Wet Virginia's 1st Congressional District should be more interesting this year than it has been for the past several elections. Since Alan Mollohan was ousted in his 2010 primary and Wheeling engineer/businessman Dave McKinley, a Republican, won the seat that fall, Democrats have been hard put to mount a serious challenge.

But in 2017, the former CEO of the Orrick law firm, announced his bid for the seat. Baxter brings strong experience, not just as a prominent lawyer, but also as a visionary business leader. When Baxter centralized much of the "back office" work of his world-wide legal firm into the Global Operations Center in Wheeling, it was an untried concept, but since the success of the GOC, many firms have begun looking at similar practices.

In recent interviews on The Watchdog Morning Show, I have found Baxter to be progressive and articulate. He knows what needs to be done on Capitol Hill to benefit the working class in WV, is able to put Democratic principles into an understandable framework, and has a firm focus on achieving those goals.

Acknowledging that he is "one of life's success stories", Baxter admits he has wealth. But he says the recently-passed tax bill is not good for the middle class and benefits the rich much more. In fact, he says the bill is "larceny". He suggests that most of us don't even have a good understanding of how "rich", the rich really are.

On the issue of fund raising, Baxter says that too any politicians have their hands out for campaign cash and are willing to work for their donors harder than they are for the voters. Baxter says when he talks with potential contributors, he makes it clear he "offers nothing in return other than good government".

Baxter calls the opioid epidemic in WV and the country "the crisis of our time". Noting it requires multi-faceted solutions--from jobs and education to more addiction treatment and treatment follow-up, Baxter says this crisis is not getting all the resources it needs. He says states can't handle it alone, it is a federal challenge. And he says "the answer can not be that we see it as beyond our reach; we have to be up to the task".

Sabato's Crystal Ball House predictions calls the WV-1 a "safe Republican" seat, but I think as Baxter becomes better known, and as some of WV's Trump supporters begin to realize they have been conned, the democrat may make some strong inroads.